The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in the present disclosure and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Virtual Assistant devices such as the AMAZON ECHO® and GOOGLE HOME® have become widely popular and can be found in many homes. Such Virtual Assistants typically are triggered by a keyword(s), spoken by the user. For example, for AMAZON ECHO® the keyword is “Alexa” and for the GOOGLE HOME®, the keyword is “OK Google.” The use of a keyword or other triggering phrase or indication, however, also means that Virtual Assistants, can sometimes be mistakenly activated by a television (or radio, etc.) show or advertisement using the keyword. As a result, the Virtual Assistant can be susceptible to false triggering which can cause it to perform an unintended action. For example, various incidents have occurred due to erroneous detection of commands following keywords, ranging from inadvertent online purchases to the setting of internet of things (IoT) devices in users' homes. In some cases, the false triggering has deliberately been caused by advertisements or other media content played on the television or other electronic devices.